Excerpt: Despite the snow and cold, small gardens are growing right now in Utah using water and the sun. Lettuce, strawberries, kale; all of this is growing in December in the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food building in Salt Lake City.

Excerpt: The old Sunbeam factory on the Far West Side of Chicago is buzzing by 5 a.m. Urban Till employees are harvesting, packaging and getting produce ready to ship to more than 100 local restaurants so it can be on diners’ plates later that day.

Excerpt: When past students Callum Poke and Jarod Elphinstone were introduced to national initiative, Philmac Project’s grant scheme, the boys brainstormed water-based ideas that would benefit their school, coming up with a water-recycling system.

Excerpt: The Alaska Food Policy Council (AFPC) spearheads the navigation of Alaska’s food system, which is complicated by its distance from the continental United States. It encourages collaboration amongst Alaskan farmers, fisheries, state institutions and agencies, tribal entities, and consumers.

Excerpt: Michael Shugrue has big plans for a long-neglected greenhouse in the corner of Wheeler Middle/High School’s campus. For many years, the greenhouse largely sat empty, lacking a heating system, with the remains of a defunct irrigation system hanging from the ceiling.

Excerpt: Every morning, Rick Clymer walks into his barn and tends a growing crop. He patiently peers into 13 Walmart 16’ swimming pools to ensure feed, health, and water temperatures are at optimal levels, before moving on to harvesting and filling orders – all year round.